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“In 20 years’ time, we’re not going to be marking tyres with chalk sticks and having people feed meters with gold coins," he said.

Town Hall plans to have 4600 in-ground sensors installed in the Melbourne CBD by the end of October. The sensors, along with licence plate recognition cameras mounted in council cars, alert parking officers to over-stayers.

The new regime has sparked accusations of a cash grab. Council estimates net parking revenue would increase by $11.8 million over the next four years. In 2010-11 it collected $44.4 million in fines.

Mr Doyle agreed revenue would lift in the short term but should taper as motorists adjust.

Database Consultants Australia is delivering the overall suite of measures in Melbourne. Managing director Declan Ryan said more than 130 municipalities were already using elements of the DCA technology, which includes the hand-held device used by parking officers.

“Municipalities are faced with the task of allocating spaces to vehicles and of turning the spaces over so they can meet the needs of retailers and offices. This pressing demand for parking space has stepped up even more over the last 10 years," he said.

The City of Perth has installed about 500 in-ground sensors this year. The sensors are not producing more revenue, the council said. Instead, compliance had improved, rising from 75 per cent to 86 per cent in recent months. That meant more bays were available to more motorists, more of the time.

Pay-by-phone systems are operating elsewhere in WA and in Brisbane. Manly in Sydney has adopted Parkmobile’s pay-by-phone system. General manager Henry Wong said collecting cash was expensive and risky.

And next week Manly will trial an electronic parking permit system. “If this all goes well, the way we park in the future will be far less tedious, a lot less dependent on infrastructure and, hopefully, there will be less clutter in the street," Mr Wong said.